A day after the RBI announced repo rate hike, the key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday opened trade in the negative zone amid high volatility. The domestic indices were oscillating between gains and losses since morning.
At 10 am, the BSE Sensex was at 54,786, down 106 points, while the broader NSE Nifty was down 32 points to 16,324.
On the 30-share BSE platform, Asian Paints was the top loser, slipping 1.85 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, TCS, UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, HUL, and Titan. On the flipside, Dr Reddy’s, Reliance Industries, and NTPC were the only gainers.
In the broader markets, midcap and smallcap shares were weak as Nifty midcap 100 fell 0.25 per cent and smallcap shed 0.13 per cent.
On NSE, 11 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.70 per cent, 0.75 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.
The overall market breadth was slightly strong as 1,258 shares were advancing, while 1,135 were slipping on the BSE.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the Sensex tumbled 214 points (0.39 per cent) to close at 54,892 in a see-saw trade, while the NSE Nifty fell 60 points (0.37 per cent) to settle at 16,356.
On Wednesday, The RBI hiked the policy rate on expected lines but sharply raised the inflation forecast for the current fiscal amid geopolitical tensions and supply chain issues. The central bank raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points, the second increase in five weeks, to rein in inflation that it saw continuing to hurt consumers in the near term.
In Asian markets, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was in the green. Stock exchanges in the US closed significantly lower in the overnight session.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.26 per cent to $123.90 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,484.25 crore on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data.